1. Field of Invention
This invention relates to adjustable garment hangers, specifically to those that will expand to support garments of all sizes.
2. Description of Prior Art
Everyone uses and has used some device to hang clothing while not being worn. Hangers traditionally have been one size for all clothing or have been made of many adjustable parts that made the adjustments complex or inconvenient. Standard hanger manufacturing has been of wire, wood, plastic, and combinations of one or more of them.
Inventors have proposed various methods to adapt existing hangers to attachments or have proposed adjustable hanger bodies that require tension devices to hold the adjustment in place.
None of these previous attempts have adequately solved the problem of adapting to varying sizes of garments. U.S. Pat. No. 2,884,171 to E. W. Knuth(1959) disclosed an attachment for a standard wire hanger that addressed the adjustability but does not solve the inherent weakness of the wire hanger, specifically the inability of it to retain its shape through use. U.S. Pat. No. 5,344,054 to Dale E. Nutter(1994) addressed the adjustability and the rigidity inherently lacking in traditional wire hangers but is composed of several parts that make adjustments inconvenient and lends to lost parts that are required for the adjustments. All prior hanger proposals have been either too complex or have not adequately addressed the varied sizes and materials of which modern clothing are being manufactured.
All garment hangers previously developed do not adequately address the disadvantages:
(a) Hangers that are not the proper size will cause deformation in the shoulder area,especially knit sweaters. Wire hangers have traditionally caused this type of damage to delicate garments. PA1 (b) As children grow and the traditional small hanger remains the same size, it is discarded with the garments. This is an unnecessary waste of resources. PA1 (c) Complicated adjustable hangers are discarded because of lost parts that are required to retain the adjustment or become inconvenient in their methods of adjustment. PA1 (a) to provide a garment hanger to adjust to fit the shoulder seams of shirts,blouses,sweaters, etc. This eliminates the bulges or puckers that normally occur with regular hangers. PA1 (b) to provide an adjustable hanger so simple that it will be retained for the life of the garment and continue to be used after the garment is outgrown. PA1 (c) to provide a foam filled polypropolene hanger that will retain its shape and adjustability for use on any garment regardless of its' weight. PA1 (d) to provide an adjustable garment hanger for childrens' clothing that will continue to adjust and be usable through their growing years. PA1 (e) to provide a garment hanger with adjustable arms and a lower clothing hanger rod with hooks for lower body garments,i.e. pants, slacks,or skirts and slender strap upper garments th at will not b e affected by the adjustments. PA1 (f) to provide an adjustable garment hanger which can be used by commercial institutions that will readily adapt to their clientele's clothing shapes and sizes.